What Microsoft needs to do with Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox

Many, many new Windows Phone 8.1 features have been leaked already but there is still much more to come – It was by far not everything! No one can argue Windows Phone 8.1 is not a step in the right direction and it will be a huge update which will boost the OS in so many ways.

Still, if Microsoft wants to succeed, it needs to do more – not with Windows, not with Windows Phone, not with Xbox – but with all of them.

All three may be gorgeous products but they are like on their own. Windows Phone does sync almost nothing with Windows, the only way you can connect your phone to your Xbox is a separate app and you cannot exchange data between your tablet and your computer easily.

What MS needs is four products: A single OS for phones, tablets, desktops and notebooks and its own gaming console Xbox. All need to work independently and have to be completely usable without any other product. Then, IF the user connects them with each other, it needs to be like BOOM!

Microsoft already has built foundation for this. Take a picture with your phone, look at it on all your other devices immediately afterwards. That is great how it is, but not enough. How two Window devices work together is simply exemplary. It does not only sync apps, but also settings and personal user information. Why not expand this to the phone and the Xbox as well? Point here: It is coming. And that is another step in the right direction.

But let’s face it: Why do I need to use a separate app to steer my Xbox (and with it my whole living room) with my phone? It works well as it is now, but with so many OS Microsoft has, and with such a huge basis, it could be much more

I am thinking of things like this: You come home from a great adventure with your Lumia 1020 and took many beautiful pictures. Your Xbox is turned off and you want to show all the pictures you have taken to your family and friends. You take your phone, go to your pictures library, swipe from the very bottom of the screen up and just press “send to Xbox”. Your Xbox turns on and within seconds the picture is being displayed on your TV. As you swipe trough the pictures so does your Xbox; of course the same should also work on your PC AND to your PC! Another example: You come back and have listened to music all your way home on the train. As you arrive you simply do the same again and your Xbox turns on and continues playing your music exactly where you left of. Then you are sitting on your couch and check your twitter timeline on your phone when the next track stars. You do not like it and want to skip it. Instead of going to the music app (or today: to your separate Smartglass app) you just open the volume control on your phone by pressing the volume rocker. Then you press next, and your Xbox skips the song. You like it very much and want to turn the volume up. To do so, you simply higher the volume on your phone with your volume buttons and while your phone keeps its loudness, your Xbox gets louder.

How cool would that be?

All products Microsoft offers need to integrate better – without several apps you need to start over and over again or come back to. Everything needs to be integrated into the system! That’s usability, baby!

And this has to work, even if you are not using extra services like Xbox Gold or Xbox Music. You have stored gigs of music on your phone but not on your Xbox? No problem, just stream them over!

What Windows and Windows Phone already share is great and it works well, but it needs to be much more – and: The Xbox needs to have a piece of the pie as well and mustn’t be like the unloved stepmother in the family.

Come on Microsoft! You have the potential, now just god da*nit use it! Sky – pardon, OneDrive is great, now make it better. And please don’t start doing it like “do you really want to send this song to your Xbox?”! I clicked the button, I surely want it!

Do our readers agree? Let us know below!

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